How to Write a Treatment Plan for Mental Health

Therapy is a process in which you treat a client who is dealing with mental health issues. A treatment plan is necessary to pinpoint the exact issues you are treating and the ways in which they will be tackled. It sets specific goals that allow both you and the client to assess progress. It acts as an important road map, providing guidance on the road to the goals and instructions on how to reach them.

Things You'll Need

• Treatment plan form
• Therapy planner book (optional)

Tips

1. Set treatment goals with the client. These goals should be as specific as possible. For example, if you are treating someone with social anxiety disorder, do not use a general goal like "Reduce anxiety." Come up with specific, measurable goals like "Client will be able to comfortably approach and talk to strangers" and "Client will attend social gatherings rather than staying home due to anxiety."

2. Develop specific steps for each of the goals. You can do this on your own, drawing on your professional expertise, or you can consult a treatment planning book. The steps should be specific actions that the client can take to accomplish each goal.

3. Discuss the steps with the client, making appropriate changes if needed. In client-centered treatment, the steps should take the client's abilities and limitations into consideration. They should allow the client to have small successes that act as the foundation for bigger ones.

4. Create a timeframe for the treatment plan. Along with the client, decide how long each goal should take. You can also put a timeframe on the individual steps if appropriate. Decide how often progress will be assessed. Usually this is done at each counseling session, but that can be variable.

5. Record the plan on a treatment planner form. If you work for a mental health agency, it should have official forms for you to use. If you are in private practice, you can create your own forms based on templates in treatment planner books or based on your own knowledge and experience.

6. Have your client sign the completed treatment plan form. This signifies his buy-in to the plan. Make sure he reads it before signing to make sure he is comfortable with it. Give him an opportunity to ask any questions for clarification before signing.

Color Therapy for Depression

Color therapy, or chromotherapy, is meant to balance an individual who lacks energy due to an emotional, spiritual, physical or mental problem. According to Missouri Western University, studies on color therapy for depression have had mixed results, so it may or may not work for you. If you do decide to try color therapy, you should receive treatment from a qualified practitioner because too much exposure to a certain color could cause adverse side effects.

Effects of Colors
Different colors are said to have different effects on people. When color therapy was being developed, the Russian scientist S.V. Krakov found that exposure to pure red light had a stimulating effect, while exposure to pure blue light has a sedative effect. Red light tends to speed up heart rate and respiration while increasing blood pressure, and blue light tends to slow heart rate and respiration and lower blood pressure.

The different colors you might be exposed to in color therapy are red, which promotes energy; orange, which promotes pleasure and enthusiasm; yellow, which promotes mental clarity; green, which promotes balance and calm; blue, which promotes good communication and knowledge; indigo, which is a sedative; and violet, which promotes enlightenment or spiritual awakening.

Depression and Color
If you begin color therapy for depression, you will probably primarily be exposed to blue light. According to Vanderbilt University's Health Psychology page, the success of blue light in treating depression was first acknowledged by the scientific community in 1990 at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science .

If you have depression symptoms due to SAD (seasonal affective disorder), you will probably be exposed to white light or full spectrum light. This treatment is similar to color therapy, but is called light therapy, because the main goal for people with SAD is to simulate sunlight.